Adolf Hitler&#039;s Table Talk-1941-1944

536 INHERITED ABILITY

536 INHERITED ABILITY post, I have adopted a system of transfer applicable to those Gauleiters who have not of their own efforts succeeded in winning over their Gau to National Socialism. For example, I have transferred the Gauleiter of Salzburg to Syria, and have replaced him in Salzburg by a member of the Party who up till now had been doing work of a totally different kind. On the other hand, I would never send to a town like Vienna a man of whom I have high expectations later on in other spheres of activity. In short, there will never be any question of son succeeding father. Can you see me appointing some youngster of seventeen as Chief of the General Staff! Bormann interposed that normally the son of a mathematics professor was not inclined to follow in father's footsteps. The Fuehrer concluded: Well, that is not surprising. As a general rule a son inherits the characteristics of his mother, and not those of his father. I know of the son of an industrialist who refused at any price to go into his father's business. Having inherited the idealism of his mother (who had been divorced and remarried), he decided to become a soldier, and a parachutist into the bargain. 241 27th June 1942, at dinner Degrelle asserts—Magnificent behaviour of the Flamands— The three phases of the 'fate of Belgium and Holland— Roman roads and viaducts—Our road net-work in the East—Tobruk: a happy omen—Churchill and Roosevelt confer—Britain in the toils. The Reich Press Chief, Dr. Dietrich, invited the attention of the Fuehrer to a complaint made by Degrelle, the Belgian royalist leader (at present serving as a legionary on the Eastern front), to the effect that in the recent exchanges of prisoners of war there were never any Rexists among the Belgians so exchanged. The Belgian members of the Exchange Committee were, Degrelle maintained, out-and-out reactionaries, who persistently ignored the existence of the Rexists. The Fuehrer replied: I direct that steps be immediately taken to ensure that Degrelle has the decisive vote in the selection of Belgian

NATIONALITY PROBLEM IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 537 prisoners to be liberated. It goes without saying that those who are risking their lives for the Europe of to-morrow have prior claim to a sympathetic hearing in Germany. Let me add that I think we have acted far too leniently towards the Belgian reactionaries. It was a mistake not to have made King Leopold a prisoner, and, out of consideration for his Italian friends who pleaded for him, to have allowed him to live in Belgium. For while this Belgian King is no intellectual luminary, he has an infinite capacity for intrigue and is the centre of attraction for all reactionaries. As a counter-weight to these reactionary elements we have the magnificent conduct of the Flemish on the Eastern front. The Flamands have indeed shown themselves on the Eastern front to be more pro-German and more ruthless than the Dutch legionaries. This is certainly due to the fact that the Flemish have for centuries been oppressed by the Walloons. The lack of harmony between the Flamands and the Walloons has not escaped the notice of the Duce. When he speaks of the Europe of the future, he is wont to group the Flemish and the Dutch on one side, and the Walloons and the French on the other. As regards the status of the Walloons, I am inclined to think that the Duce is not quite correct in his appreciation of the problem of North-western Europe. The solution which he is inclined to dangle before the eyes of the small minority of Walloons is hardly practicable within the framework of the Greater Germanic State (Das Grossgermanische Reich}. I am pleased, therefore, that there exists neither in Holland nor in Belgium, any Government with which we should have to negotiate. This will enable us to impose whatever we feel is politically expedient and obviously useful. I propose solving the problems of these small States by means of brief and decisive declarations. The beginnings of every civilisation express themselves in terms of road construction. Under the direction of Caesar, and during the first two centuries of the Germanic era, it was by means of the construction of roads and tracks that the Romans reclaimed the marshlands and blazed trails through the forests